[Teddy’s mom]

Ok poodle peoples I know I posted a while ago about my spoo jumping with his ninja paws. I cannot keep him off my counter tops! Every time I’m in there I look over he has quietly standing with paws on the counter. Any time he can sneak into kitchen..boom counters. He’s even taking things out of my sink! I’d b ok with that one IF he were licking clean and putting back..but he’s not. This is very frustrating! I feel he needs a consequence. Is that the mom in me?! I don’t like it and I want him to know that’s a no no. Plus he’s teething! JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL AND COUNTERTOPS!

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Can you barricade the kitchen? Make it a no-puppy zone?

If not, you need to keep the counters (and yes, sinks) clear. Just a few months of getting zero reward for the behaviour should extinguish it.

 

[cowpony]

LOL welcome to owning a representative of one of the two smartest dog breeds. Galen has discovered butter and lurks in hopes of being able to carry off a half stick.

Counter surfing is a difficult behavior to cure, because they usually get rewarded with a taste of the forbidden before you ever catch them. The most important thing is not to leave anything out that they might want to sample. (This is the reason I store English muffins in my microwave.)

Some people set booby traps on the counters (e.g. a chain of beer cans tied to a tempting piece hot dog.) It might work for some dogs, but Pogo and Snarky were fairly analytical. They would stand on their hind legs and evaluate all the obstacles before they stole something.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Our breeder warned us that Peggy's dam likes to wait until she's safely in the shower to counter surf.

That's actually one of the biggest differences I've seen between Peggy and other dogs I've known: She isn't all about the immediate gratification. She has no problem biding her time until the perfect opportunity presents itself.

A while back she started nudging the garbage cabinet door open. She's never taken anything. She doesn't even stick her head in the garbage. Just nudge. Slam. Nudge. Slam.

She does it so often I don't even rush to the kitchen when I hear it anymore. My guard is officially down.

Um...

Please excuse me while I go research cabinet locks!!

 

[Teddy’s mom]

He will be full asleep wait for me to have snuck off for a second to try to achieve something and then BAM! I walked into the kitchen and he was just paws up there like look at me! I’m not sure I can gate the kitchen area..it’s kinda open concept. Something needs to happen!

 

[Teddy’s mom]

LOL welcome to owning a representative of one of the two smartest dog breeds. Galen has discovered butter and lurks in hopes of being able to carry off a half stick.

Counter surfing is a difficult behavior to cure, because they usually get rewarded with a taste of the forbidden before you ever catch them. The most important thing is not to leave anything out that they might want to sample. (This is the reason I store English muffins in my microwave.)

Some people set booby traps on the counters (e.g. a chain of beer cans tied to a tempting piece hot dog.) It might work for some dogs, but Pogo and Snarky were fairly analytical. They would stand on their hind legs and evaluate all the obstacles before they stole something.

Stick of butter?! 🤣

 

[Dianaleez]

Normie's a mini - he coasts along with feet up just to the top of the counters while trying to peep over. It sounds like I should hide the stepstool.

You standard owners are a hardy lot.

 

[For Want of Poodle]

Teddy likes to jump JUMP jump
Cause he's a clever pup pup pup
He knows good things are up up up
But cause he's not a lump lump lump
Teddy likes to jump jump jump

An ex pen is good for fencing off open concept spaces, or you can put him behind a gate in another room, tether him, or put him in his crate.

Basically- "teaching him a lesson" isnt going to work at this stage. He is a dog, he has less understanding of "right vs wrong" than a 2 year old human, and no chance of learning it. He will just learn what he already has - it's only ok to eat from the counter when Mom's not there, and it's a great game to figure out how to get it. As a dog, long term consequences are something he wont really grasp either. Counter surfing is SUPER rewarding for dogs, it hits all the buttons - working for their food, the roulette of "oooh, what good thing will be there this time", scavenging etc. Super fun, very hard to untrain.

Right now- it's your job to keep him off the counters by whatever method possible so he can forget that fun game before it escalates further- I have one colleague with a toy poodle that would jump onto the counter and get food from onto of the fridge, another whose dog will open cupboards to pull out bread or anything else. Tether him to furniture, baby gates, crate, etc. If the humans are doing their job, he shouldn't be able to be unsupervised in the kitchen - ever. At least for the next few months. Annie was not left alone unsupervised in my kitchen for her first 8 or 9 months, maybe more. I leave dirty dishes in the sink, so at my house, a gate is always on the kitchen if I am gone. At moms, no food or dirty dishes are ever on the counters and I still double check counters before I leave.

You may also want to later work on an alternate behaviour for in the kitchen - Annie has a spot that if she lies there, food appears between her feet. She likes that spot A LOT, and we work on down stay there. If she is in her spot when I return to the kitchen - food usually appears.

Ptp- I would suggest what I do, which is a scrunchie to close the cupboard doors... but umm..... I think that's probably an even worse idea than leaving them open in your house .

 

[PeggyTheParti]

He will be full asleep wait for me to have snuck off for a second to try to achieve something and then BAM! I walked into the kitchen and he was just paws up there like look at me! I’m not sure I can gate the kitchen area..it’s kinda open concept. Something needs to happen!

How old is Teddy?

If you can't directly block off the kitchen, you can contain him elsewhere. Or tether him. I really think preventing any sort of rehearsal of that behaviour is the key, and that can require confinement to puppy-proofed spaces (unless supervised) well into adolescence.

If he's been rewarded with something extremely tasty, no punishment is likely to deter him from trying again as long as that memory's fresh.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Ptp- I would suggest what I do, which is a scrunchie to close the cupboard doors... but umm..... I think that's probably an even worse idea than leaving them open in your house .

Oh that is just CRUEL. Lol.

Speaking of the limitations of negative consequences, I almost reached for a scrunchie for my bath today. After all we've been through!! They just work so much better than anything else.

Short memory for bad.

Lonnnng memory for good.

 

[Rose n Poos]

Catherine/lily cd re has used a couple of techniques occasionally for some behaviors, counter surfing and barking included. They need to be used at the moment of the act.

There's several threads she mentions these ideas in. I was reminded while reviewing them that counter surfing can be a dangerous habit for our dogs. I've used the pennies in a bottle fairly successfully for barking.
This is one:

Jumping up & eating food from tables/counters

My standard poodle is jumping up and eating food from tables and counters. This is a new thing. Should I just put him in his crate when it's time for us to eat dinner? I'm afraid to grab any food he has from his mouth because a previous puppy we had was a resource guarder and would try to bite...

www.poodleforum.com

1/ the spray bottle with water only
2/ the plastic jar with pennies. shaken at the perpetrator